Carlsbad Caverns

We arrived in Carlsbad about 3 pm on September 24th.  We are two days ahead of the original schedule that I had planned.  While traveling we made our reservations at the Carlsbad KOA.  Little did we know that it was about 18 miles north of town on 285 which made it about a one hour drive to the Caverns.  After arriving Linda washed clothes while I crashed after a hard day on the road.  The KOA is really nice, serving supper, which Linda decided to purchase.  They had BBQ ribs and brisket.  We were both famished and really dug into the huge plate of food.  The next morning I awoke early, got my coffee, and washed the car as well as the bugs off the front of the coach.  We then began to prepare to leave for the Caverns.

Guadalupe Mountains

The journey began in the Chihuahuan Desert of the Guadalupe Mountains.  We arrived at the Caverns around 11 am.  After talking to the Ranger, we decided to take the two self-guided tours which meant entering through the natural entrance of the cave instead of taking the elevator down.  This meant walking one mile through the entrance and well into the cave before getting to the big room.

Natural Entrance

About 200 feet down is where the bats stay and you pass through many other beautiful formations down 750 ft into the earth following steep and narrow trails through a tall and spacious trunk passage called the main corridor.  This route ended where the elevators and rest area are located.  This is where the Big Room Route tour begins.  The Big Room is over 1 1/2 mile walk covering 8.2 acres.  This area is massive, with many formations.  We really took our time in the cave, finishing up about 3 pm.  Although we walked down, it was nice having the elevators to return to the surface.

THE BAT FLIGHT

After returning to the surface we grabbed a sandwich that we had brought and rested until returning to the amphitheater to witness the evening bat flight.
 This evening flight of bats out of the Caverns is a natural phenomenon as fascinating as the cave itself.  In a mass exodus at dusk, thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats fly from the cave for a night of feasting on insects.  This occurs only from March to October where the bats then migrate back to Mexico



FOLLOWING ARE PICTURES INSIDE THE CAVERN